I got a Polaroid Land SX-70 off eBay. Loaded up a pack of Impossible film and started testing it.

Looks like its light meter is a little off as all my shots came overexposed.

I tested using my usual models and following some advice from my resident photographer and the super nice people of Vintage Instant and somewhere between the first and eighth shot I found myself so fascinated by the camera that I even went and read about its history. And watched old commercials of it.

But I guess my favorite moment was when after driving for two and a half hours I stood with sand beneath my toes and snapped the last of my first Impossible PX70 film shots. And this was the result.

Just like Laurence Olivier said: “And then, the Impossible happens.” I smiled all the way home.

There’s something really cool about instant images you can touch instead of just see on a screen.

Especially when they’re a little imperfect , beautiful little things.

An instant art exhibition!

Out in the sun, to dry. (This is old-school peel-apart Polaroid film.)

He has been doing this for a while now, everywhere, not just volcanic beaches and museums of ancient things.) Using expired film and cameras that I can only imagine were once called ‘portable’ because portable used to mean ‘can be lifted, even if heavy and inconvenient.’

So I got jealous. And got an old Polaroid SX-70 and some Impossible film. (Which, you have to develop in the dark still, and it’s not exactly the same, but like I told him, I am investing in the future…of the past. The Polaroid is dead, long live the Polaroid!)